by Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports

by Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO â?? The Chicago Blackhawks boast star power and yet they are often fueled by players who aren't likely to ever grace the cover of the Hockey News.

The Blackhawks' impressive depth was even more valuable Wednesday when role player Andrew Shaw scored on a tip-in with 7:52 left in the third overtime to give Chicago a 4-3 win to end the fifth-longest Stanley Cup Final game in NHL history. The classic game ended at the stroke of midnight.

"He's a competitor," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "He does things game in, game out. The bigger the stage, the bigger the challenge, he rises to the occasion. He knows where the front of the net is.

The two teams had played 112:08 of hockey when defenseman Michal Rozsival flipped a wrist shot from the point that first was deflected by Dave Bolland before it hit Shaw's leg and ricocheted past Boston goalie Tuukka Rask. It was the 117th shot of a game that lasted just short of five hours and the Blackhawks' 63rd shot.

"(Shaw) is one of those guys that you appreciate he's on your side and he's relentless," Quenneville said.

Shaw said he knew the winning goal wasn't going to be a pretty one.

"You could tell both teams were physically exhausted," Shaw said. "We preached it, go to the net, you'll find a way to get a greasy goal."

Chicago's secondary scorers were essential to its success in the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final. Boston's scoring came from its stars, while the Blackhawks goals came from a rookie (Brandon Saad), a defenseman (Johnny Oduya), a veteran (Bolland) who scored his first goal of the playoffs and Shaw, known primarily for providing his team with an energy boost.

"I don't think we do our game planning around Mr. Shaw," said Boston coach Claude Julien. "Our game plan is against the Chicago Blackhawks. We know he's an agitator. We know he's good at embellishing, too, at times. We know all of that stuff. We've done our research."

Midway through the third overtime period, Boston forward Kaspars Daugavins had the puck in Chicago's goal crease, but couldn't gain control of the puck to stuff it in the half-empty goal.

"I thought we had some chances for sure to win the game (in overtime), but we didn't so you have to get ready for the next one," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said.

Chicago goalie Corey Crawford made 54 saves in the game, including 29 in the three overtime periods.

"He had several all-alone players and saves," Quenneville said. "Had some odd-man breaks, some dangerous looks. He was great, found the puck, challenges. A lot of pucks at the net, a lot of bouncing pucks with traffic, and a big penalty kill as well."

There were 120 hits in the game, 61 by Chicago and 59 by Boston. The Bruins blocked 40 shots, and Chicago had 23 blocked. Marian Hossa had 10 shots on goal, and Saad had nine and Patrick Sharp had eight.

The game went to overtime because Oduya's shot hit Boston defenseman Andrew Ference's skate and deflected into the goal at 12:14 of the third period to tie the game 3-3.

The loss could be even heavier consequences for the Bruins who lost right wing Nathan Horton to an injury before the start of the second overtime. Julien said he wouldn't know anything about Horton until doctors had time to evaluate him Thursday. Coincidentally, Horton was hurt in the Stanley Cup Final when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Julien said he isn't concerned that the heartbreaking notion of losing in triple overtime will be devastating to the team's championship hopes. "The last time we won the Cup, we lost the first two games to Vancouver," Julien said. "It never stopped us from coming back. This certainly won't."

The Blackhawks' third goal meant they had scored more goals in Game 1 than the Pittsburgh Penguins had scored against Boston in the four games played in the Eastern Conference finals.

Patrice Bergeron scored a power play goal at 6:09 on a shot from above the left wing circle to give Boston a 3-1 lead, the Blackhawks pulled within one goal when Bolland scored his first goal of the playoffs at 8:00 of the third period.

Milan Lucic scored a pair of goal to stake Boston to a 2-0 lead, but Brandon Saad scored on a pass from Marian Hossa at 3:08 of the second period to cut Boston's lead to one goal.

On Lucic's first goal, Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson missed his check on David Krejci behind the Chicago net and Krejci claimed the puck and pushed it out front where Horton deflected to Lucic, who scored at 13:11 of the first period.

"(We) just basically played two hockey games in one night," Quenneville said. "So get some rest and get excited about coming in here Saturday night."